SVN Builds

This article is a discussion of the general purpose of DOSBox SVN builds, and a list of which known public ones exist and where to get them. The first part is a FAQ covering various questions regarding DOSBox SVN builds; it is followed by a listing, description of and links to known SVN builds, as well as a selection of useful related links.

SVN Builds FAQ

What are SVN builds?

SVN builds are versions of DOSBox that people have built from the latest version of the DOSBox source code, which is stored on sourceforge.net in something called an SVN repository. SVN builds contain changes that have been made by the DOSBox developers since the latest official release. Some enhanced SVN builds also contain unofficial features and fixes that have been created by enthusiasts in the DOSBox development community.

Why should I use an SVN build?

Every so often a new official version of DOSBox is released. Active development continues between releases, however, with new features and fixes continuously added to DOSBox's SVN repository that eventually result in the next release. At the time of this writing, the last official release is several years old, and is therefore missing a significant amount of work performed by the developers. If you're having trouble running a game with the current DOSBox release, it's worth trying an SVN build to see if the problem has been addressed since then. You may also want access to the new features or optimizations if you are having compatibility or performance issues.

Which one should I use?

That's up to you. Consult the list below to see which features the different builds contain and decide which one you want to try first. If you are interested in trying an SVN build in hopes that it will fix a problem you're having in the latest release version, you should probably start with a "plain" (no-enhancements) SVN build. Also, see replies to this post from the maintainers for additional info on their builds.

How do I use it?

Some SVN builds come packaged as a fully-functional DOSBox distribution, so you can simply unpack the archive into an empty folder and run it. Other builds contain only a custom dosbox executable binary (e.g. dosbox.exe) and possibly some supporting libraries, and require that you first install the latest official release of DOSBox and then unpack the SVN build over the top of it - replacing the release versions of the files with the SVN versions. Some developers also recommend regenerating your dosbox.conf configuration file so that you will see any new config options that have been added. Consult this forum thread for info on how to regenerate a config file.

What do I do if I find bugs in an SVN build?

First, search the DOSBox community forums to see if it's already been reported. If it hasn't, post as much information as possible (see the help request guidelines). Update: Note that bugs in plain SVN builds are probably the only ones of interest to the DOSBox developers. Problem reports for the other builds should be addressed to their respective maintainers, as problems could be caused by experimental patches that aren't part of the official SVN source code.

Where can I go to talk about SVN builds? (forum thread)

Please feel free to discuss SVN build-related topics in the forum thread where this article originally started.

List of SVN Builds

Plain/vanilla/clean SVN builds

The following SVN builds are based directly off of the official DOSBox SVN source code. Use these builds to test the latest official SVN changes:

Enhanced SVN builds

The following SVN builds contain additional fixes and/or features that are not officially part of DOSBox. Many people prefer them due to the included extra features that are not included in in the SVN. Note that if you have problems with these builds, it may be due to the unofficial changes that have been made by their maintainers and not the official DOSBox code itself that is to blame:

DOSBox with Long File Name (LFN) and mouse copy/paste support by Wengier

Description: This is a build of DOSBox based on its SVN version that adds Windows-style Long File Name (LFN) as well as mouse copy/paste support. With this both the DOSBox shell commands and many native LFN-aware DOS programs should now be able to use LFN in DOSBox, and users can also use the right mouse button to select, copy and paste text from and to DOSBox (when the mouse is not locked). Windows binaries are provided, but sources should work on other platforms too (pdcurses is required for the cross-platform clipboard copy/paste feature). Please see README.TXT file inside the binary package for more information.

Description: "This is a branch of DOSBox 0.74 that I have been working on and off for the past 8 months. I've been modifying a lot in the source to make the emulation more accurate, to fix other parts of the emulation, and to widen the kind of hardware DOSBox emulates. I call it "DOSBox-x" for lack of a better name."

Obsolete SVN/CVS builds

These builds appear to be no longer maintained, and are listed here for historical reference.

Notes: Moe is also the creator of OPENGL-HQ. OPENGL-HQ is another scaler that is implemented in SDL.dll. Unfortunately it may be some time (or never), until OPENGL-HQ is implemented in the official SDL so until then you'll have to download it from here (or compile it yourself). Neat thing about this is that you can use this SDL.DLL with any SDL program (e.g. DOSBox, SCUMMVM...).

Description: This build is no longer useful; it was made before DOSBox 0.63 came out and contains MT-32 emulation code that is much older than the current Munt releases. Note that more current MT-32 emulation is also included as an unofficial feature of some of the newer SVN builds.

Useful Links

SVN changelog

The following links list the latest changes to the official DOSBox source code on its sourceforge.net SVN repository:

IRIX

Notes: Original enosnusnu.de link seems to now redirect to spam-filter.de. I added a link to a DOSBox on IRIX page on the latter site, but it appears that it may only offer a source code tarball and no binary.